Knockin' On Heaven's Door V2
by Agent Black
Summary: The movie we all know and love... from the perspective of a new character. Strangely enough, it works. I beg thee for your readership and review...dom. Finally COMPLETE! I promise!
1. Author's Note

A note from me, the author. Hi.

First off, let's get this out of the way: I don't own Cowboy Bebop. If I did, there would be another two hundred and sixty-three seasons, and a new movie every week. I _do_ own Jonathan Jacobs- Jack, as you'll come to know him- and I am the creator of his storyline. If you want to use the character, ask me first.

Howdy! Thank you for reading my story. Well, right now you're reading my note, which is getting in the way of the story. Don't skip ahead yet.

I have invented a character, invented his storyline, and written up the tales of the _Bebop_ crew from his perspective. Why, you ask? Well, Jack's a cool character, for starters. I like writing for him. And he allows me to do neat things: (if you haven't finished the series, skip to the next paragraph) I can use him to save Spike's life, for instance.

But I really like how well the character fits into the story. There are times when I'd feel that Jack was intended to be there from the start; believe me, I created the character and began writing him into Bebop episodes before I saw the movie. That he fits so well into the events of the movie surprised me quite a bit.

Oh, and I might release the rewritten, Jack-included Bebop stories. But those stories are in a very rough form now; quite a bit of editing will be required before I can release them on this site.

And yes, I know that the movie takes place on Mars. But I liked the idea of writing for a New New York better. And come on, New Times Square? Ah, well. The little changes are present. Sorry. I just like things that way.

Also, reviews are encouraged; but let it be known that I've already written the whole story, so I won't be able to edit major stuff that you don't like. And try not to be too mean. I kind of like this story.

By the way, there are two moments of fan service, that I'm aware of; once in the Prologue, and a blunt use of fan service in Part Seven. If there are any more, let me know.

Now, on to the next page, where Jack's history will be (partly) revealed...


	2. Jack

**Welcome to the ISSP database, user "Marshall Banana." **

**For whom do you require information? **JonathanJacobs

**Searching for file "JonathanJacobs"...**

**Jonathan Jacobs** is the main character of "Cowboy Bebop", though he wouldn't admit it if asked. He likes to be called simply "Jack", and has put his full name almost entirely out of use for reasons he has disclosed to few. Even his last name is rarely used, though it could be argued that he hasn't found a situation where it was entirely necessary.

Records state that Jack was born on January 7, 2044, though some evidence suggests that he is much older than that; a beta video (a type of film footage that had gone out of use in the early 1990s) depicting himself and Faye Valentine (who, she confirmed, had been cryogenically frozen in 1994 and re-awakened in 2068) as children had surfaced, bringing some doubt to the idea that Jack is merely 27 years old. Despite this, Jack feels that the tape isn't enough evidence to suggest that his true age is false, and he still holds that, as of this writing, he is 27.

At age fourteen, Jack met Spike Spiegel, who was the same age. The two became best friends, and remain close allies to this day.

At age eighteen (year: 2062), Jack signed up to fight in the conflict on the planet Titan II, in what would be known as "The Titan Wars", or simply "Titan". What happened during those three years remains unknown, but Jack returned home at age 21. Upon learning that Spike had been educated in the ways of martial arts during Jack's time in the military, he began to learn alongside Spike.

For an unknown reason, Jack excelled in the martial arts and quickly caught up to his friend. In hand-to-hand combat, the two are now equals and very, very dangerous, though many believe Jack to be the stronger and is merely hiding his true power from Spike.

The two friends climbed the ranks of the criminal underworld on their homeworld of Mars, and eventually became high-ranking enforcers of the Red Dragon Syndicate. With this rank, Jack introduced into the clan a man named Vicious, who had served with him on Titan. Vicious joined Jack and Spike in rank a year later (the year 2065).

A series of events known only by Spike, Vicious, Jack, and an unknown party led to Jack and Spike leaving the Syndicate and becoming bitter enemies with Vicious. In their few encounters since the event, there has been fierce battle. No one party has gained victory yet.

In 2068, Spike invited Jack to join him on the ship _Bebop_, owned by Jet Black. The invitation included the offer to become a bounty hunter. Jack accepted.

For the next three years, the trio hurled through space with few major victories and, frequently, very low supplies and cash. In this time, Jack spent what little money and time he had on a new look (a casual-looking suit, and occasionally sunglasses and a black trenchcoat), new weaponry (a Jericho pistol- the same type as Spike's, but Jack modifies his pistol regularly), and any new fighting styles the two can pick up.

In 2071, the crew of the _Bebop_ grew some. They got a data dog, Ein, who Jack cared for almost as much as Jet did. Then they gained the member that would prove to be a major force in Jack's life: Faye Valentine.

Jack claims that "the rules of 'love at first sight'" are what caused him to fall in love with the woman, though he does have further reasoning behind his affection for the girl. The two continue to have a healthy relationship, albeit one that is burdened by recent events in Jack's life.

The crew also gained Ed, a young female hacker considered by the crew an odd little girl. Jack finds almost all of Ed's mannerisms amusing, and often hangs out around her simply to see what she says next.


	3. Prologue

Prologue

Open 24 Hours

It was just... that he was just all alone. He couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else. Like living in a dream... that's the kind of man he was.

"Jack, wake up." Jet said, nudging me a little as I slept on the couch.

I slowly got up, grabbed a set of headphones and a CD player (one of my prized possessions, due to its rarity), and headed out.

I got into a van Jet had rented. We spent the money on it because, according to him, Earth vehicles were "the classics".

Spike was sitting in the back of the van, as well. Like me, he was listening to music on his headphones.

He pulled his headphones off for a moment.

"What are you listening to?" he asked.

"This jazz band out of New Japan." I replied. "The Seatbelts. Heard of 'em?"

Spike smiled. "What are you listening to, 'Clutch'?"

"Nah, that's too up-tempo. I'm too sleepy for 'Clutch'."

"'Too Good, Too Bad'?"

I grinned back.

Spike slipped his headphones back on. "I like 'Clutch' better. It has a cooler bass line."

"Yeah, yeah." I said, and put my headphones back on.

Eventually, the van came to a halt. Spike and I climbed out, and started to lazily stroll towards the convenience store.

Jet headed into an alley next to the store. "I'm gonna head in the back." he said over the radio, which was patched into the headphones. "There are three guys inside the store, and a handful of civilians. Try not to get any innocent people shot, okay?"

There was a large brute of a man at the front door.

"This store's closed. You two better go somewhere else." he said.

Spike looked down at his shoes, as did the guard. It was a trick; Spike brought up his foot, nailing the man in the chin. He went down instantly.

"Nice." I said. Spike grinned.

We stumbled into the store, and started sifting through the aisles.

"Hey! You two!" a man with a gun, sitting on the front counter, said.

I kept looking around the cold area. I pulled out a six-pack of beer, and inspected it.

"Yo! Headphone-boy! Are ya deaf!"

Spike pulled his headphones down, and brought up a small toy.

"How much is this?" Spike asked.

He fired off the sparkler in the thug's face, shocking him. Spike nailed a roundhouse kick on him, and the man crashed into a pile of cans.

A thug approached me, gun drawn. I took my headphones off, and looked at him.

"Want some beer?" I asked, throwing him the six-pack. He dropped his pistol to catch the liquor, and didn't notice that I had taken one out. The thug looked up just as I smashed him in the cheek with the bottle. He crashed through an aisle.

One last thug in the middle of the room fired off a few shots. The civilians got down, but Spike and I didn't really care. He was scared, and his shots were way off mark.

Jet busted in through the ceiling, landing on the punk.

"Now, now. Don't play with guns." Jet remarked.

Spike stood up. He had stuffed a donut into his mouth. "Put it on their tab." he said, pointing to the thugs.

I had chugged the beer I had used as a weapon. "This, too." I said, holding up the empty bottle.

Suddenly, a fourth goon left the bathroom. He looked around and panicked, drawing his gun and holding an old woman hostage.

"'Scuse me, Jet." Spike said. "You told us there were three."

Jet looked over at Spike. "Hey, sometimes deception can be useful for enemies as well as allies-"

"Oh, don't give me that 'Art of War' crap!" Spike interrupted.

"I am going to kill this old woman!"

"And you! You take too long to take a shit!"

"Put your guns down!" the thug shouted. "Put 'em down, or granny's brains are goin' all over!"

I took out a pistol and dropped it. I still had another one in my coat, but he didn't need to know that.

Somehow I knew Spike was going to be troublesome. He pulled out his gun, and pointed it straight at the thug.

The thug was a bit more scared now.

"P-put the gun away, cowboy!" the thug yelled.

"Sorry, grandma." Spike said. "But we're no charity organization. We're not the police. We don't protect or serve. To us, this is all just business. I guess you're just gonna have to chalk it up to bad luck."

"Spike, you can't mean that!" Jet said.

"You sonofabitch!" the old lady yelled.

The thug pointed his gun at Spike and fired, but missed. Spike then fired back, and sent the punk through the freezer behind him.

Just as the thug stood back up and went to point his gun at Spike again, I picked up my empty beer bottle and whipped at the man's head. There was a satisfying crack as it connected, and he went down.

I started to head towards the door.

"That man- why did he call you a cowboy?" the old woman asked. "Who _are_ you?"

I patted Spike on the shoulder.

"You can have the line." I whispered, turning to watch him.

Spike blew imaginary smoke from the tip of his pistol, spun it, and smiled.

"Ma'am, we're just humble bounty hunters."


	4. Life Gets Interesting

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Part One

Jet programmed the _Bebop_ to go down for a landing in the water around New York City. It was technically _New_ New York City, seeing as the city was now in Africa, the only fully-functional continent left on Earth. But no one called it that.

Spike and Jet were playing shogi. Well, Jet was. Spike was too sleepy to concentrate.

"Move, already." Spike said, slumped in his seat. I was sprawled in the pilot's chair, watching as the New York bay came up to meet us.

"I can't just _move_." Jet said. "Shogi is a game that is meant to test a person at their core. Their reactions, their moves, their thoughts!"

"I try not to think." Spike lazily remarked.

"Obviously." Jet replied.

Ein hopped up on the planning table Jet had converted into a shogi board. He moved one of Jet's pieces to the side.

"Yes! That's it!" Jet exclaimed. "I'd love to see you counter-"

Spike was asleep.

"-that." Jet said, quietly.

He walked up next to my seat, watching the view.

"I can't believe you thought he would stay awake." I said.

Jet laughed. "Shogi just isn't his thing, huh?"

"Nah, never has been. I'll play you sometime, just-"

A beeping came from one of the computers next to my seat. I tapped a few buttons, and a small rectangle showing a pretty woman appeared.

"Faye!" I said, jumping up in my seat.

"Hey, hon. The races were a loss, as usual." she said.

"When aren't they?" I remarked, knowing full well that Faye was really just a terrible gambler. "Hey, we've got a nerdy bountyhead for you to grab along the way back. Five mil. Sound good?"

She smiled. "I'll have him in a flash."

I heard Faye playing "Pretty With a Pistol" on her ship's sound system.

"Oh, and Faye?"

She looked up at the screen.

"Yeah?"

"Listen to more jazz. That pop stuff will get you nowhere."

She laughed, and turned off her communicator.

I headed into the living room, grabbing my guitar along the way. I played until Spike sleepily stumbled back into the room. He sat on the couch and rubbed his eyes.

"Have a nice sleep?"

Spike smiled. "It got me out of playing shogi, didn't it?"

I laughed.

Spike flipped the television on, and the local news was reporting something about an explosion on the highway. A chemical agent had been released, apparently, and people three kilometers away were dropping dead.

Jet rushed into the room. He had heard.

We were glued to the television until Faye strolled in. At the time, we were eating noodles; noodles were a large part of our diets at this point.

"What happened to the bounty?" Jet asked.

"Oh, it got all screwed up. You don't wanna know." Faye replied. I kissed Faye, lit up her cigarette, and lit up one of my own, before throwing my noodles away.

She caught sight of the television and sped over to it.

"Whoa, that made the news?" she exclaimed.

All of us jumped back.

"There was a poisonous chemical agent in there!" Jet yelled.

"Germ girl, Faye-Faye! Stay away-way!" Ed said.

"I was in my ship at the time, I'm not infected!" Faye said.

We relaxed.

She tackled Spike. "...or was I?"

We scrambled around the room, trying to get away from her. Judging from the laughing, we figured out pretty quickly that she was kidding.

After calming down, Ed collected video footage from the camera on Faye's ship. She scanned through it while Faye told us what happened.

Apparently, Faye had been tracking the bounty's truck- a tanker- but another man came out of it, a very different man. He blew up the tanker, and disappeared.

"What did he look like?" Spike asked.

"I've got it!" Ed yelled. We looked over at the screen.

There was a low-quality shot of a man with long, scraggly, black hair, and eyes that had to have a story behind them. His forearm was covering half of his face, and on that forearm was a tattoo of a sword in the middle of a circular arrangement of leaves. Some words were written just below the tattoo, but they weren't visible in the shot.

The words were in Latin. The words, "Vincit Omnia", meant "Conquers All". A tattoo was applied to the forearm of any Special Forces soldier from the Titan conflict.

I only knew all of this because I had the very same tattoo.

No one appeared to notice the tattoo; they were focused on the man's face.

"Great shot, Faye." Jet said, sarcastically. "I can definitely identify him now."

"Well, _I_ saw him perfectly." Faye said.

Ed brought up another program, and handed Faye a pencil.

"Faye-Faye, draw! Use the magic pencil!" Ed exclaimed.

Faye picked up the pencil, and looked at the screen. "Well, alright." she said, and went to work.

While Faye drew, the rest of us watched "Big Shot" on television.

They announced a three hundred million Wulong bounty for the terrorist who caused the attack.

All of us went silent. We were stunned.

"Uh, Faye, are you done with the drawing?" I asked. The sooner we got information on this guy, the better.

She moved aside. The drawing didn't reveal any features we couldn't see in the picture. The quality of it didn't help, either.

"Well." Spike said. "If anyone can catch him with that picture, I'll _pay_ you the bounty."

Jet was having a hard time stifling his laughter. I had a grin on my face.

"Well, folks, that's it for today's episode of 'Wasting Time With Faye"!" Jet said.

She stormed out. "You two go ahead and laugh. I'm gonna go find that nerd."

Jet stood up and headed for the hangar. "Bob's gonna meet me at the drive-in anyway. I'll ask him about it." he said.

Spike followed him. "Yeah, I'll do some digging."

I thought about the tattoo. "I... have some stuff to take care of." I said.

Spike waved, and I waved back.

I went into the bathroom that Faye and I shared. I rolled up my sleeve, and looked long and hard at my tattoo. It was the exact same tattoo that the terrorist had.

What bothered me was, each squad on Titan had their own specific tattoo. He was in the squad that Vicious and I had captained. But who was he? There were only a few people that I remembered: Vicious, Gren, Electra...

Colonel Electra Ovirowa... she was my second-in-command, and my first love. We had broken some serious rules due to our relationship, during the war.

But while she loved me, there was another man that she cared for. Another man in the squad.

"My God..." I breathed.

Vincent. It was him.

I didn't have any hard evidence that the bomber was Vincent, but in my gut I knew it to be true. The man was a very, very skilled combatant, and midway into the Titan effort, our higher-ups recruited him for "special training", the same kind that had made Vicious and I almost superhuman. Ever since Titan, I had never tapped into those abilities. I secretly resented them.

When Vincent came back, his anger about the experiments that had been performed on him had made the man a real danger. He killed another man in our squad for no apparent reason, according to him. But Electra stuck with him, breaking my heart in the process.

Titan. Almost every problem in my life stemmed from that goddamned war.


	5. The Colonel

Part Two

The Colonel

I was putting food in Ein's bowl when Spike came into the living room with a large vase. Jet strode in, empty-handed.

"What'd you find?" I asked Spike.

"A vase that's perfect for me." he replied, setting the thing down.

"Uh... okay. How about you?" I asked Jet.

"I love old Westerns." he said.

I shook my head.

Ed jumped into the vase. It shook as she played around inside of it.

"She's like a trained seal." Spike said. "We should sell her to the Martian circus."

Ed poked her head out of the vase.

"Edward found something!" she said, holding up a small, blue marble.

"Huh." Jet said. He grabbed the marble from her hand, and looked at it.

Ed took the marble back, hopped out of the vase, and ran off.

"Well, that's... odd." I said. "Successes across the board, huh?"

Ed had stuck the marble in a machine connected to her computer. She was busy doing _something_, but I didn't know exactly what.

Faye ran into the room.

"Hey, has anyone seen a ragged hat?" she asked.

"Welcome home, babe." I said. "No, I actually broke from tradition and didn't go through your clothing today."

She smiled. "Come on, seriously! It belongs to the nerd!"

"We don't know, Faye." Jet said. "Just look around. It has to be somewhere."

"Ed found something else!" Ed yelled.

We crowded around her screen.

"The marble contains a lymph-lymph-lympho-cyto-cyto-lymphocyte." she said.

"Uh... what?" Spike asked.

"A lymphocyte." I said. "They're in our blood streams."

"Right!" Ed said. She brought up two images on the screen. Both were lymphocytes. "One of these is real. The other is a twisted sister!"

"The one from the marble is the, uh, 'twisted' one?" I asked.

"Ding! Zap it in the microwave!" Ed replied. That usually meant yes. "Now, watch when we apply pressure!"

The real lymphocyte was affected; the marble one wasn't.

"It's fake." I said.

"Correctamundo!" Ed replied.

"Ed, find me a local research lab working on artificial lymphocytes." I said.

"I've already got a pharmaceutical company for you to check out." Jet said. "Cherious Industries. Bob let me know they were involved somehow."

I grabbed my trenchcoat and communicator, and headed out.

"You two keep digging. Let me know if you find anything." I said, walking to the hangar.

I stood outside the gates of Cherious Industries.

A few cleaning trucks pulled into the complex. I waited for the last one, and jumped on.

When the truck pulled into its parking spot, I knocked out the driver and brought him into a side room. In there, I put my clothes in a bag and changed into his blue jumpsuit and hat.

I snooped around for a little bit, but there wasn't much to see. There weren't any archives at this place, so I decided to head up to the administration and see what I could find.

I felt a guard come my way, so I started washing the walls with a broom I had grabbed.

Just as I had felt the guard's presence, I felt a pistol pressed into my chest.

"What are _you_ doing here?" asked a very familiar voice.

I saw a Titan tattoo on the guard's arm. I turned around to face the guard.

"Electra." I breathed.

She was still beautiful. Electra's short red hair still hung casually in her face, and her sharp eyes' focus, while negative, made me happy to have seen her again.

"Captain Jack Jacobs." Electra said.

"Colonel Electra Ovirowa." I said. "Goddammit, Electra. Do you have any idea what-"

"Don't you lecture me!" she interrupted, harshly. "You let the superiors take Vincent and use him as a common plaything! And don't act like you didn't know what they were going to do!"

"Dammit, Electra! I don't know what they did to _me_!" I shouted. "I was taken from my home and played with until they put me in charge of eight lives! Do you think I don't know what happened!"

"Why Vincent?" Electra asked. "It was because you were jealous, wasn't it!"

"Electra, it was you or him!" I yelled. Her expression weakened a bit. "Damn you, Electra, I _loved_ you! The superiors told me that I had to choose either you or Vincent to go into their damned 'special training', and I knew I couldn't pick you!"

Electra's grip on her pistol weakened some. "I... I didn't..."

"Why did you leave me?"

She put her gun away.

"Jack, I'm going to find you. We're going to talk about this. But right now- right now, I'm an agent of this company. And you can't be here." Electra said. "I'll give you thirty seconds to escape before I call the guards. I know you, you can be out of here before time's out."

I started running. I came to the end of the hall, and turned around.

"Electra, I... I still love you."

She looked down at the ground. I saw Electra shed a single tear.

I kept running.

A/N:

Hey, everybody. How's the adventure going? Like it so far?

In case you were wondering (or noticed), Jack and Electra's reunion is a moment I put a lot of thought into. I tested out a few different options for it, and I realized that out of the possible emotions they'd express, anger would be the quickest to come out. Electra blames Jack for Vincent's "death" (and other things, but we'll get to that later), and Jack is actually very, very sad- but sadness is only anger without energy, and he certainly has energy.

Another fun fact: I realize now, when I read it, that the reunion is based heavily off of the reunion of Carth and Dustil Onasi, from Knights of the Old Republic. When I imagine voice acting, I hear Carth's voice reading Jack's lines (only these, though- I imagine a different voice for the rest of his dialogue). And I still hear Jennifer Hale performing Electra's lines, but she was in Knights of the Old Republic, too.

And a small side note: I'm experiencing a glitch where some question marks are becoming exclamation marks. It looks really terrible (remember All Your Base?). If I don't catch all of 'em, I'm sorry.


	6. The Captain and The Monorail

Part Three

The Captain and The Monorail

When I returned to the _Bebop_, I felt something different in the air. It wasn't the warm, welcoming arms of home that I felt; no, there was something new. Something bad.

I strolled into the living room to see Ed messing around on her computer, and Jet and Spike looking almost as if they had been betrayed.

I took a closer look at what was on Ed's screen. There were pictures of various people, all dressed in uniforms, and text below each picture. On one of the pictures was the young Vincent I had known; another contained the same photo of Electra that I had kept amongst my military gear for years.

Oh, dammit, they found my service records.

I cleared my throat, to attract their attention.

"Uh... what's up, guys?" I said.

"I don't know." Jet replied. "What _is_ up, Captain?"

I sighed, and ran my fingers through my hair.

Spike was very quiet. He looked a bit sad.

"Okay, so I didn't exactly tell you everything about me." I said. "Come on, how does this change anything?"

"This changes a _lot_, Jack!" Spike said, standing straight up. "I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone that you had been in the Titan wars; I didn't know you were the damn _poster boy_ for the super-soldier program!"

"The program... look, Spike, I didn't want to be a part of that. I joined the army, true. But in the middle of my training, they took me and Vicious out and what happened for the next six months is still unknown to me. All I do know is that when I came out, they promoted us both to Captain and put us in charge of a squad. And that whatever the hell they had done to me, it had made me-"

"...superhuman?" Jet suggested.

"Yeah." I replied. "I was forced into experiments that I may never understand, and I was forced to be responsible for the lives of people I didn't know! I didn't want any of that, Spike! You have to believe me!"

"Jack, when you introduced me to Vicious, you said he was a 'war buddy'." Spike said.

"He _was_ a war buddy." I said.

"Jack, you had the highest body count of anyone in that war." Jet said. "You killed-"

"Six hundred and eighty one people." I breathed. "I know. Believe me, I know."

"How much of what you've done has been based off of your super-soldier abilities?" Spike asked. He was calmer now; he was seeing the way it had all really happened.

"None of it." I replied. "After coming back home, I swore to never pull from any of my abilities, ever again. That's why I was so eager to train with you; I wanted to have natural abilities, not ones that I had received from a test tube."

Spike nodded. "Well, alright." he said. "Then I guess it's okay. But is there anything else you're hiding from us?"

I nodded. "There is." I said. "But I can't tell you now. There's someone else you have to hear it from."

"Who?" Jet asked.

I pointed to the screen. "Colonel Electra Ovirowa."

"She's a pretty young thing." Spike remarked. "Did you-"

"It's complicated." I said. "She was at Cherious. I didn't find out what they were doing there, but whatever it is, they're prepared for war. Electra said she was an agent of the company. If they're using her, they mean business; the girl was my second-in-command. After Spike, she's the person I'd want to be in a foxhole with."

"I can see why." Jet remarked, looking at Electra's picture.

"Oh, shut up." I said. "I planted a bug on her, so I'll be monitoring that until something good happens."

I took a pair of headphones off the table, and flicked them on. Electra appeared to be just going through her day.

"Hey," I asked, "where's Faye?"

"Don't know." Jet replied. "Last I heard, she was lookin' for that nerd bountyhead. I think it's gotten personal for her."

"Then we may wind up with a corpse instead of a bounty." I remarked, and headed off to my room.

I spent an hour and a half playing guitar, listening to Electra, and thinking.

I thought mainly about Electra and Faye. Out of the two? I had no idea which girl I loved more.

Electra and I had a very mature relationship, albeit one that had fallen apart because of the environment in which it bloomed. Faye and I had a playful relationship, though out of the two I felt hers was the more caring. I liked protecting Faye, however mad that made her; and our personalities got along very well. Plus, Faye and I kept our relationship going in the real world, where it would be for the majority of our lives. Electra and I had fallen in love on a battlefield.

"I think I've located Vincent." a voice said. "He's heading to Central Station."

"Excellent." Electra replied. "No one lay a hand on him." I heard her start running.

I slipped the microphone in my pocket, grabbed some ammo for my pistol, and my trenchcoat.

I ran through the living room, shouting for Spike to get in his ship and follow me.

Mere minutes later, we were soaring towards Central Station. There was no time to lose; Vincent would be efficient in his task.

I flew low, and programmed my ship to fly back to the _Bebop_. I opened up the cockpit and jumped out, landing on the roof of Central Station.

Spike found a spot to land, and started running in.

I found a stairwell and ran down to the entrance hall. I spotted Vincent in a long, black coat, with his long, black hair and unkempt beard almost hiding his identity.

I followed him, sprinting through the crowd. Vincent went into one of the monorails. I got in after the man, slowing down and trying to keep a low profile.

After a few tense moments, the monorail pretty much emptied out and took off. It sped out of the station, going along a track hovering entirely over the New York bay.

I brought up my Jericho pistol. Vincent heard me pull back the hammer.

"You..." Vincent said, turning on me. "You do not understand the situation you are in."

"I understand it just fine." I said. "You're releasing biochemical weapons in a populated city. I'm merely here to collect your bounty."

"No... you don't understand this at all." he replied.

I squinted a little, making sure this was the Vincent I knew. He didn't seem to recognize me.

"Vincent, it's me." I said. "Remember? Your Captain?"

I saw his eyes go wide. The man pulled out a pistol and fired wildly in my direction.

I dived to the right, hoping the seats would block the bullets until Vincent ran out of ammo. I heard the click of an empty magazine, and came up firing.

Five bullets left my pistol; five connected. Considering how fast Vincent was moving, that was quite a feat.

_Let the animal take over._

I felt my abilities... strengthening.

_You will need him._

The abilities that I had left on Titan were coming back to me. I fell to the ground, as a searing pain entering my system. My eyes were open, but a blinding light stopped me from seeing anything. A minute later, I felt better than ever.

Something about Vincent triggered the abilities.

I followed him into another monorail carriage; but suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me.

"Vincent." Electra said, stepping in front of me. She had a gun in her right hand, but she wasn't pointing it at him. "Vincent, don't you remember me?"

Just as he had done with me, Vincent turned and fired. But Electra didn't have my reflexes, and I knew it. I dived in front of the shot. The bullet nailed me in the chest.

Vincent turned around to run again, but Spike was right behind him. Spike and Vincent fought, and I knew who would be the victor.

"Spike!" I tried to shout. "Spike, run!"

"Run?" Spike said. "No way, I've got this thug."

Electra got down on one knee and started checking out my wound. "Jack, why did you do that?" she asked.

"I told you, Electra... I still love you." I said.

She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, her eyes were wet, but she wasn't crying.

"Do you have a knife?" Electra asked, all business.

I handed her one. Just as I had taught the squad all those years ago, she performed a perfect incision, found the exact spot where the bullet was lodged, and pulled it out in no time. She had some bandages of her own, and wrapped them around the wound.

"Well done." I remarked, sitting up.

When I looked up, I saw Vincent holding a beaten and bloodied Spike out the monorail window. Without thinking about it, I rushed over and put my gun against Vincent's back.

He threw Spike anyway.

I fired a few shots into Vincent, shots he didn't appear to feel. I then threw him against the opposite wall of the monorail, and jumped out after Spike.


	7. And Into the Fire

Part Four

...And Into the Fire

I sat by the fire, watching Spike sleep. I had patched him up- Vincent had done quite a lot of damage to my friend- and started up a fire by the shore.

By the time I had gotten to shore with Spike on my back, I noticed that the monorail had come to a halt, and the first cart- the one we were in- was badly damaged. I prayed that Electra was all right.

While waiting for Spike to wake up, I had called Jet and given him our position, but told him not to be in any rush. Spike needed to rest, and being next to a landing pad wouldn't help him.

I had also called Faye a few times. She didn't pick up. Jet still hadn't seen her. I was very worried.

Spike stirred. He opened his eyes, slowly.

"Do you have any idea how tired I am of having to save your ass?" I remarked.

Spike laughed.

Jet landed pretty soon after, and the three of us had sat by the shore, watching the sun go down.

I realized then that I hadn't smoked in a while.

"Jack," Jet said, "I was going to mention... I think that it would be okay to walk away from this one."

I looked at Jet for a good, long moment. I wanted to agree with him.

"Jet, I just can't." I replied. "This whole thing... it's all connected to me. Hell, it may even be _because_ of me. And there's a large possibility that I may be the only person who can stop it."

Jet nodded.

"And anyways, if Vincent has anything to do with Faye's disappearance, I'm going to be forced to kill him." I said.

Jet laughed a little.

But just a little.

The next day, Spike felt that he was healed. And Ed apparently had some new information about the lymphocytes.

She showed us a blown-up image of the lymphocytes. Apparently, they weren't just prosthetics on a very small scale; they were nanomachines.

"They were making a weapon." Jet concluded. "The company was contracted to make this weapon for the Titan effort, but they wanted to make sure that their soldiers wouldn't be hurt by the weapons. So they took Vincent and tested the vaccine on him. Now, it must have worked, because he survived the testing; but his trauma from the experimentation must have driven the man to lash out, using the very same weapons to attack a world that he felt had betrayed him."

"That would explain how he can perform the attacks." I said. "The vaccine is still circulating through his system."

"And anyone who comes in contact with his blood, or any other bodily fluid that could contain the vaccine, will be vaccinated." Jet explained.

That meant that Electra was probably vaccinated. A happy yet horrifying thought.

"Well, do we have any leads on information? We should probably get into this company and see what we can do about a vaccine." Spike said.

"Check this out." Jet replied. "Ed, could you look up their shipment on October 15th?"

Ed squirmed about for a bit- I had no idea how she operated her hacking programs without touching the keyboard, but she was the best- and we saw Cherious' homepage appear on-screen. The page flipped away to reveal documentation of a shipment on Oct. 15. Ed's cursor flipped through some pages and came up to Macadamia nuts. About five hundred pounds of 'em.

"What's with the shipment, Jet?" I asked.

"It was hijacked. About five hundred pounds of cargo went missing." Jet replied. "Check this out. That's a lot of nuts for a pharmaceutical company."

"And it's a lot of work, too." I said. "Macadamia nuts... research and development? This is just too suspicious."

"Ed, bring up the R&D division." Spike instructed.

The name "Mendelo Al-Hedia" appeared on-screen. He was the head of Macadamia nuts research and development.

Ed brought up another page with his information.

Apparently, Dr. Mendelo was the foremost professional on nanomachines. He wasn't working at Cherious anymore.

"Nanomachines..." I read. "We just need to find this guy, and-"

"Ah." Spike said. "I think I know how to find him."

"I'm going with you." I said.

"I was hoping you would." Spike replied. "I wanted you to get a vase that's perfect for you."

We did a lot of searching around the Moroccan streets for Spike's informant, but we couldn't locate him. Eventually, we sat down on a flight of stairs. Spike looked in his carton of cigarettes. There were two left.

He handed me one, and took the other. The empty carton went back in his pocket; why, I didn't know.

"How about a light?" a merchant asked, holding out an oversized grenade. He pulled the pin, causing the grenade to emit a large flame- it wasn't a grenade, it was a lighter. I stuck my cigarette in the flame, as did Spike.

"Thanks, Doc." Spike said.

The merchant put away the lighter, and sighed.

"Who is your friend? Is he trustworthy?"

"Mostly." Spike replied. "Don't worry about him, he's connected to-"

"Wait! A.. are you Captain Jacobs?" the doctor asked.

"I... was." I replied. "It's just 'Jack', now. I don't even use the last name that much anymore."

"You were the first entry into the super-soldier program!" the doctor exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm talking to you! You're legendary in almost every field of science!"

"I sucked at science." I replied. "And 'every field'? Didn't they just mess with some of my muscle tissue?"

"No, no, far from that!" the doctor said. "Almost every field of science was put to the test in your experiments! You shouldn't have survived most of it, or at least not without significant disfiguration. But you turned out fine!"

"Yeah." I muttered. "Just fine."

"Do you know what they did to him?" Spike asked.

"I don't know what they _didn't_ do to him." the doctor replied. "The first month was all shots. You were shot up with almost everything imaginable. Surviving that month alone was impressive. Then, they did nanomachines for two months."

"Two months? That seems like a lot."

"Running through your body are the most advanced machines in the world." the doctor said. "They are completely independent, and judge everything your body does, making sure that you are fully prepared for every situation you face."

"Is he sterile?" Spike asked, jokingly.

"No." the doctor replied. "That was an important part of the test. You tell me if you have any children, alright? Breeding will require a lot of testing."

Well, getting Faye pregnant was even less of an option now than it was before. No way was I going to let those scientists loose on a kid.

Spike shook his head. "Anyways, we need access to the vaccines." he said.

"With a man like your partner, I don't think it will be that hard." the doctor replied.

"Doc, don't you have any vaccines?" I asked. I was still taking in what he had told me about my experiments, but there was work to be done.

"Dr. Mendelo deleted all data of the counter-nanomachines." he said. "But he couldn't delete the data of the weapons. He only hoped the military would leave the weaponized nanomachines alone- for using them would be suicide."

So, this man didn't consider himself to be Mendelo anymore. He probably hated his creation too much.

"Rasheed, just one more thing." Spike said, standing up. "If you see the doctor again, give him this."

My friend jammed a hard punch into the merchant. He fell over, and slowly picked himself up.

"Well." Rasheed said. "Indeed." He slid down the railing on the stairwell, and disappeared.

Spike and I stood there for a bit, looking out over the city. Eventually, I stomped out my cigarette. And I felt something wrong.

"It's too quiet." I said.

Spike nodded.

We slowly made our way down the steps. Suddenly, a bunch of troops showed up, and held us both at gunpoint.

"Drop your weapons!" they yelled.

"Don't have any on me." I replied.

A guard looked me up and down with expensive-looking goggles. "He's telling the truth."

I saw Spike put his Jericho on the ground. When I turned back to face the troops around me, one of them knocked me out with the butt of his rifle.


	8. A Story

Part Five

A Story

I woke up in a dark jail cell. Spike was lying on the lower bunk of a bed placed in our cell. He was sleeping.

I was sprawled out on the floor of the cell. I wanted to wake him up, but waking someone up to that situation would be too mean, I figured.

I looked around outside the cage. There was only one light; a blue one, that just barely lit up our cell and the empty one next to ours.

I put my back against the concrete wall separating our cage and the empty one.

A few guards walked in, with a beautiful woman in chains following behind them.

Electra looked at me as she walked by. We didn't say anything.

The guards put Electra into the other cell, and removed her chains. They left, quietly and efficiently.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this." I remarked.

I heard Electra put her back against the wall. But nothing else.

Eventually, she said: "Tell me a story, Jack."

"A story?"

"Yeah." she replied. "Just... something to take my mind off of this place."

"Electra, I don't have a story to tell you."

"I find that hard to believe."

I thought about it. I really couldn't think of anything.

"Make one up." Electra said.

I wanted to say no, but I didn't feel like it. She wanted a story, she'd get one.

"Story-time it is.

"Well, there was once this guy. And he was a really average guy. I mean, he was average-looking, and average-sounding, and average everything. The only thing he was good at was playing music, but he still wasn't very good at that.

"One day, this guy heard about a bunch of people off fighting in a distant land. The guy thought, hey, I might not be so average if I go and help out. People might like me then. So he went. But just as the guy was about to go, a bunch of powerful people said that they wanted to see this guy.

"So, they saw the guy. And these people didn't care that he was just an average guy, with maybe an average crush here or there. They decided to try and make him more than average. But they did it the wrong way. See, someone can only stop being average when they've made the world a better place; no amount of messing with the person will make them anything more than average.

"After the powerful people finished with the average guy, he was still average, but he couldn't remember the things that really mattered to him. His average life, his average dreams, his average crushes. Even his really good friends. The powerful people made him forget all of that; they made the average guy only want to hurt other people.

"And he did. The average guy hurt a lot of people. But one day, something very strange happened. The average guy found a girl. And this wasn't an average girl; no, this was an amazing girl. This girl was beautiful, and smart, and skilled. Not average in any way. But the average guy was this amazing girl's boss. He didn't get why he, being such an average person, had power over an amazing person.

"The guy got to know the girl, to try and understand. But somewhere along the line, he fell in love with the amazing girl. And the guy and the girl were in love for a long time, and whenever he was around the girl, the guy felt like he was amazing, too. But one day, it all stopped.

"The guy went back home, and never saw that girl he loved again. He only had one thing left from the fighting: the ability to hurt people. And he hurt a lot of people, even after the fighting ended.

"He kept hurting people, until he found another amazing girl. And the guy stopped hurting people. He fell in love with that girl, maybe even more than the first girl. And ever since, he's lived happily."

When the story was over, I heard Electra sniffling a little. Was she crying?

"Jack." Electra said.

"Yeah?"

"W-what ever happened to the first girl?" she asked.

I thought about it. "The guy still loved her." I replied. "He still loved her a lot. But she had stopped loving him, and because of that a lot of bad things happened to the guy."

Electra cried.

"What if... what if the girl still loved him?"

"Then the guy would have her know that he loved her, too."

"But... what about the second girl?"

I thought about it. I couldn't answer the question.

"The guy wouldn't be able to decide which girl he loved more. Both girls are very important to him. He wouldn't be able to love only one. It would be like suicide."

"So... the first girl could never be with him again?"

"The first girl could always be with him." I replied. "But she'd have to understand that he loved someone else, too."

Electra's crying quieted down a little.

"I... I think she'd be fine with that. Just to be with the guy again."

"That would make the guy happy." I said.

I put my hand through the bars of my cell. Electra reached out, and held onto it.

"I love you, Electra." I said.

"Jack, I'm sorry." she said. "I'm sorry that I blamed you for putting Vincent through the tests. I know you were only protecting me."

"Shh." I said. "We'll talk in the morning. Right now, we should sleep."

"Alright." Electra replied. "I... I love you, too, Jack."

We stayed like that, hands connected, all night long.

A/N:

Yes, that was _intended_ to be sappy. "Romance" is in the description, deal with it. I was going to write a memo to myself for editing, but I won't delete it, so you folks can see the kind of notes I leave myself while writing:

Make the story more sappy. I want tears from these people.


	9. The Whole Truth

Part Six

The Whole Truth

I woke up slowly. I had slept rather well, considering that I was on the floor of a jail cell. But that was probably because of Electra.

"Jack? Uh... where are we?"

I opened my eyes. Spike was hanging on the bars of the cell, looking around.

"We're in a jail cell." I replied. I was about to stand up, but doing so would break my connection with Electra.

Spike noticed.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"I'm Electra." I heard her say. "Electra Ovirowa."

Spike looked a bit surprised. "Jack, is this that-"

I gave Spike a "choose your words carefully" look.

"Is this that beautiful young woman you told us about?" Spike asked.

"Aw, that's nice of you, Jack." Electra said.

"Yeah, this is her." I replied.

Spike shook his head. "Hold on, you're distracting me. Why are we in prison?"

"We're not in prison." Electra said. "We're in the 'protective custody' of Cherious. The only differences between the two are a much smaller prison, no free time, and a memory wipe once we get out."

"When do we get out?" Spike asked.

"A few hours from now." she replied.

"And, wait a minute- don't you work for Cherious?" Spike asked.

"Ah, the million-dollar question." I said. "I was wondering about that, myself. But I think I know why already."

"You do?" Electra asked, surprised.

"You're vaccinated, aren't you?"

She sighed. "So, you _do_ know."

"What are you two talking about?" Spike asked.

"Spike, you already know that Cherious was secretly manufacturing weaponized nanomachines, right?" I said. Spike nodded.

"How do you know about that?" Electra asked.

"We've got a very skilled friend." I replied. "So, Spike, after Vincent got ahold of the weapons, the company probably wanted to erase all evidence of their involvement, right, Electra?"

"Yeah." she replied.

"Now, Vincent has a vaccine coursing through his bloodstream, as you already know, Spike. As you also know, anyone who comes into contact with his blood or any other bodily fluid that could contain the vaccine will be vaccinated." I said. I held up Electra's hand. "_She_ has."

Spike looked a little bit confused. "Jack, I thought you-"

"Jack and I fell in love on Titan." Electra said. "But I also cared for another man. Vincent Volaju."

"Damn." Spike said. "Is there anyone in your squad you _weren't_ sleeping with?"

"Spike!"

"It's alright." Electra said. "I think I deserved that."

"Electra, I just have one problem with the whole thing: after Vincent came back to the squad, I could feel that you were disgusted by him. Yet you would have needed to have come into... contact... with Vincent to have been vaccinated." I said.

There was silence for a bit.

"This was why I was afraid of your investigation." Electra said. "You're right. When Vincent came back, I was disgusted by him. I hated the disrespect he had for human life, the needless violence that he caused. But he...ignored me. The old Vincent wouldn't have done that, I knew. This was someone different. So, one day the Private started flirting with me. It didn't bother me; I was used to it, being a high-ranking woman in the military. But Vincent saw it."

"He killed the Private." I said. It wasn't hard to figure out.

"Jesus." Spike breathed.

"You thought I created that monster..." I said. "I'm so sorry, Electra. I know I'll never be able to make it up to you."

"It wasn't your fault." Electra insisted. "Where would I be now if you _hadn't_ chosen Vincent? Would I be the terrorist?"

"I still made the decision." I said. "I swear to you, Electra, I won't rest until I end him."

"I don't want you to start a vendetta over me." she said.

"Too late." I replied. "Now, the first step is to break out of here."

I stood up, breaking the connection with Electra. I felt a bit weaker the moment our hands stopped touching.

I stood in the center of the cell, and looked at the door in front of me. I was going to try something I hadn't done in a long while.

I accessed a part of my mind that had been left dormant for some time. It had reappeared briefly on the monorail. Now, I needed it for a while.

I felt the searing pain again, this time multiplied by ten. I started screaming, but I didn't realize it. The white light was now blinding. Luckily, it only lasted for five seconds.

I had gone through this full-fledged "awakening" only once before: in an infiltration ship, on my way to Titan. It had been forced on me then. Now, I needed the abilities for a much shorter period of time than Titan; but a simple "quick start" like what I had gotten on the monorail wouldn't do.

Eventually, it stopped. I looked around. My vision cycled through various spectrums of color for a while before returning to a much sharper version of what I normally saw.

"Are you alright!" Spike asked, frantically.

"I'm... I'm fine." I said, and stood up.

"Jack, don't do this." Electra said. "Send the abilities away. You don't need them!"

I looked down at my body. There wasn't a really drastic change or anything, but I was more muscular than I had been. I quickly went through various stances I had learnt; my reflexes and agility had improved, too. My powers were back.

Spike was figuring it out. "Jack, are these..."

"...my powers from Titan." I said. "Sorry, Spike. But I don't think I can take Vincent on my own."

He nodded. "Look, can you get us out of here?" he asked.

"I think I have an idea." I replied.

I went back a few steps, and looked at the wall. I pulled back my arm, and pounded the wall, very hard. There was a loud crash.

A guard rushed into the area, and down towards our cell.

"What the hell was-"

Spike shot out a kick through the bars, knocking out the trooper. My friend took his body, grabbed the card key, and threw it to me.

The card worked, though I hadn't doubted that. When I stepped out of the cell, I picked up the guard's pistol and threw it to Spike, and then grabbed the guard's other keys and unlocked Electra's cell. When it opened, she fell into my arms. I held her for a few seconds, and then she stood up and moved on.

"Before we go, we should grab the vaccines they've been manufacturing from my blood sample." Electra said. "They should be on this floor."

Spike kicked down the door, and ran out, gun drawn. We hadn't caused enough commotion that the guards would be on to us, and thus we were okay.

"Spike, put the gun away. No one's suspected us of anything." I said. He slipped the pistol in his coat pocket.

Electra led us to the research labs. We entered an airlock.

"Alright, you're going to need to put on the-"

"We don't have time for the suits." I said. "You and I both know that security will be here any second."

Spike simply ran through. I followed.

There was one scientist in the room, looking through a microscope. Spike put the gun to his head.

"Where are the vaccines?" Spike asked.

"Th-the second rack! The yellow packets!" the scientist said.

I pulled open the second rack on the wall. It was filled with yellow packets. Electra grabbed a container, and we started loading the packets into it.

"Thanks for your help." Spike said, putting the gun away.

Electra closed up the box, and started running with it.

"Time to go!" she said.

Spike and I followed her through the facility to the garage, where we put the container in her trunk and hopped into the car.

We sped off just as security arrived.

A/N:

Looking back, I kind of think I should have given the Private a name. He's not even a minor character, so it doesn't matter much. If it bothers you, just call him Jenkins, or something. Believe me, it's not important.


	10. Spike Spiegel, Fighter Pilot

Part Seven

Spike Spiegel, Fighter Pilot

Spike gave Electra directions to where the _Bebop_ was docked. On the way, I absentmindedly checked my watch.

"Huh." I said. "Happy Halloween."

"Is it Halloween already?" Electra asked.

"Whatever Vincent's gonna do," Spike said, "I suspect he's going to do it today."

I nodded.

We drove in silence for most of the trip. There was a lot to think about.

We pulled up on the dock, right next to the _Bebop_. I grabbed the container from the trunk and brought it inside with Electra and Spike.

Inside, Jet was talking with Faye in the living room. I set the container down, and almost tackled Faye with a hug.

"I was so worried about you..." I said.

Faye laughed. I didn't realized that my head was practically buried in her chest, which was being barely hidden by her red scarf.

I quickly stood back up.

"What happened to your top?" I asked.

"That madman cut it open." Faye said. "I managed to stop him from doing anything, but it was a close call."

"Did you happen to ingest any of his blood?" I asked.

Faye looked a little bit puzzled. "Yeah, I'm vaccinated. He told me."

I turned around to see that Electra was watching Faye and I. Spike and Jet were unloading the vaccines while Spike explained what we knew.

Electra watched us with a knowing gaze. "So, this is..."

"Faye Valentine." I said. "Faye, this is Electra Ovirowa."

The women casually shook hands, and I explained to Faye what had happened to us. Faye told us how she had gone to capture the nerd, but he was in an area that had been hit with the virus. Faye got infected, too, and passed out. When she woke up, she had been captured by Vincent. Vincent had lectured her on his ways, and told her that she would be immune to the virus; now, Faye knew why.

Faye had been able to escape because Vincent left. Before leaving, he had told her to meet him at the "bridge between Heaven and Earth", because that's where the "party" would start.

"My God," Electra breathed.

"What?" Faye asked.

"He must have gotten ahold of the most advanced samples of the virus. Those samples spread from person to person at a very fast rate. The only thing faster is the vaccine, but it has to be applied immediately." Electra explained. "That's what he means by the 'start of the party'... the start of the infection's spread."

"Well, I have good news." I said.

Everyone looked at me, expectantly.

"I have an idea."

The plan was supposed to go as follows: Faye would break into the climate control center and make it rain. Electra and Jet would go to the airport and get as many planes as possible into the air with spray bottles filled with the vaccine. The pilots would simply fly over New York, spraying the vaccine. The clouds would absorb the liquid, and it would rain down upon the people of the city, stopping the virus immediately.

The trick to the whole plan was, the authorities wouldn't be very happy about it. So it was up to Spike and I to cause as much trouble as possible and distract them.

We all helped out with bottling the vaccine, and put them in the back of Electra's car. They took off at around five PM- later than I would've liked, but still not bad.

Faye took off in her ship for the climate control center- I didn't ask what her plan was to take over the place, but she did grab one of my MP5's on the way out- and Spike and I shoved out immediately after her.

"So, Spike, what's the plan?" I asked.

"We're going to fly right into their turrets." he replied.

"What!"

"Relax, it'll be fine." he said.

I hoped that my reflexes would be up to the task.

As we approached the turrets, Spike forwarded his sound system's music over to mine, so we'd both be listening to the same thing. He was playing a very up-tempo jazz piece.

"'Clutch'?" I asked.

I remembered the conversation we had had in the back of Jet's rented van that night. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"We're coming in." Spike said.

I heard the turrets come alive. They opened fire.

Spike dodged to the left, I dodged to the right. The turret didn't know which target to fire at, and chose neither.

A swarm of military ships started flying our way. We continued to barrel roll in opposite directions out of the way of turret fire, confusing any gun that shot at us.

The ships followed us out over the countryside.

"Alright, Spike, we've got 'em far enough away from the city." I said.

"There are still ships in the base." Spike said. "Let's make 'em send some reinforcements."

I saw Spike turn his ship's plasma cannon around and lock on to a ship behind him. He fired, blowing away the small ship.

A shrill beeping from my targeting computer told me that another ship had a lock on to me.

I flew over to a large metal wall serving as a shield for the city. The military ships fired, but the missiles were too loose and swerved into the wall, causing a huge explosion that the military ships got lost in. They crashed into the wall, as well.

"Nice one." Spike remarked.

"Good shooting." I replied.

Reinforcements arrived. Now, if any other ships decided to interfere with our friends, they would be too weak in number to pose a great threat.

"Okay, we've drawn out the reinforcements." I said. "Now what? Should we lose 'em?"

"Then our friends are still in danger." Spike said. "We're gonna have to blast 'em."

"All of them?"

"As many as we can."

"Man, I knew you were going to make me do this..."

I pulled up from the wall, doing a 180-degree turn to face the ships. Spike saw my maneuver; it was an old trick of ours. He turned around, as well.

We both started soaring towards the military ships. I locked onto the signatures of as many ships as I could, and Spike fired his plasma cannon into the center of the group.

They scattered, but that was fine; I then emptied my payload of missiles into all of the signatures I had locked onto. The pilots were caught by surprise by the second attack, and most of the ships exploded brilliantly.

Spike and I turned around and started heading back towards the city.

"You know, Jet's not gonna like that he has to buy more missiles." I said.

"Hey, we got the job done, didn't we?" Spike replied.

I laughed.

A/N:

I really like this chapter. The fan service moment was completely unnecessary, but I still wanted it in there. I didn't deal with Faye's nearly-topless escape from Vincent, so I figured this was just as good.

Also, up until this point, I worried that I was making Jack _too_ cool; that Spike was really the second fiddle. But then again, Spike was out investigating and managed to find Rasheed; he still got the vase with the marble; and now, we see that he's a more courageous pilot than Jack. For those of you who are beginning to line up behind our hero, however, the next chapter lies before you.

By the way, the next chapter's the final one. Well, there's an epilogue that you can skip if you don't feel like seeing a slight dip into the very-near future, and another message from me, and you're probably tired of me by now. I've vowed not to put a note at the end of the final chapter; the moment's too solemn to let my ramblings interrupt your appreciation of it.

And I'm quite sorry about how long the update took me; my Internet's been down for a while, and I get really paranoid about grammatical errors in here. And there's that whole "life" thing I have to attend to now and then.

Have fun, everybody.


	11. Waking Up

Part Eight

Waking Up

It had started to rain. Faye had come through. Whether or not Jet and Electra did had yet to be seen. 

Spike and I landed on a bridge, since there wasn't really any time to find a landing pad. A taxi came screeching to a halt next to Spike's trashed ship.

"Hey! Taxi!" Spike yelled, waving.

The driver took us towards New Times Square, since we didn't have any leads. It was a wild guess.

And then, I saw it. It was so very obvious that I was almost mad I hadn't come up with it before.

On the edge of New Times Square was a tower. It was made from the remnants of a bridge. It was called "Heaven's Tower".

"He's there." I said, pointing to the tower. I saw Spike figure it out. He slapped himself on the forehead.

We climbed out of the taxi, and started running.

"Hey! What about my fare!" the driver screamed.

We made it to the tower a few minutes later. I took out my pistol, and looked at Spike.

"This is my fight." I said. "Stay down here. If you see Electra, don't let her come up."

"Jack, I'm going with you." Spike insisted.

I stepped into the elevator, and hit the button for the top floor.

"Sorry, partner. Can't let you do that." I replied. "I'll see you on the other side."

As I rode the elevator up, I cleared my mind of all worries. They could only weaken me.

The elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open. I stepped out, cautiously, my gun drawn.

Vincent was nowhere to be found. I stood, looking out over the crowd. And suddenly, immediately, I felt his presence rush towards me.

I spun to my left and looked up, firing two shots. Vincent had attempted to pounce on me from the scaffolding above. The shots sent him flying backwards, and knocked off the black coat and hat he had been wearing.

"Your reflexes..." Vincent said, hunched down. "Now I remember you, Captain Jacobs."

"I'm no Captain anymore." I said. "I'm just a man."

Vincent stood up.

"When you accepted your abilities again, you became the Captain once more." Vincent said. "Whether you like it or not, you are that monster again."

"No!" I shouted. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't I?" Vincent said.

I didn't want to be the Captain anymore. The Captain was a murderer.

I felt my abilities drain away. My improved muscle mass faded, as did my remarkable reflexes. The sharpness with which I had seen everything faded; I saw the world the way it was meant to be seen.

I dropped my pistol and fell to the ground. I certainly wasn't helpless, but it was quite a shock.

Vincent walked over to me. He looked confused.

"You gave up your abilities?" he said. "Why?"

I looked up at Vincent. "I hated them." I replied.

I stood back up, and faced the madman.

"They were the only thing keeping you alive!" Vincent yelled, and shot out a kick. I leapt backwards, dodging the attack.

"Not all of my power stems from that war." I said.

Vincent ran towards me. I turned around and kicked off of a pillar, using his momentum and mine to multiply the damage I dealt when I connected. He flew backwards again.

I landed in a roll, and then jumped back up with a kick to his face. Vincent stumbled back some more.

He grinned through bloody teeth.

I watched the man, as the rain started pounding down on the tower. The ground was starting to become slippery, which I took into account with my stance. I was soaking wet, as was Vincent; his long hair was flattening out from the shower it was getting.

Vincent held up a grenade, and removed the pin. It detonated, sending me flying; but there was no shrapnel inside of the device to do the majority of the damage.

It contained the virus.

"You are now infected." Vincent said. "Do you feel the virus? Is it eating you?"

I stood back up, and looked at Vincent.

"No." I said. I looked around, and saw golden butterflies all around the city.

Vincent was almost horrified. "You- you're vaccinated?"

"So is everyone in the city." I said. "This rain contains the vaccine. Even if you detonated the bombs, no one would be infected. Your plan ends here."

Vincent took the detonator out of his coat pocket.

"Even if the poison won't work, there are still explosives around the city!" he yelled. "I can still kill hundreds with the push of a-"

A gunshot.

The detonator flew out of Vincent's hand and exploded.

His eyes went wide as he traced the gunshot back to Electra, standing a few yards behind me. She had her gun drawn.

I thought about how Spike hadn't listened to me. But where was he?

Vincent roared. He went feral.

The beast charged after Electra, but I dived in front of her, tackling Vincent before he grabbed her.

We wrestled on the ground, biting, clawing, kicking, anything to make the other person feel more pain. Eventually, I punched Vincent, hard, in the face, and stood up.

I leapt backwards, but I forgot to take into account the water and fell to the ground. I kept sliding back, and Vincent charged at me. He leapt into the air, and pounced.

I felt the cool grip of my Jericho slide into my hand, brought it up, and emptied the entire clip into Vincent. He went sailing backwards and slid across the slippery ground, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

I stood up, slowly, and slid my pistol into a holster in my trenchcoat. I went over to Electra, and put my arm around her.

Spike arrived, looked around, and sighed. I looked at him accusingly for a moment, and he shrugged.

We all walked over to Vincent. He was still alive, barely.

"Electra..." he said. "I... I'm so sorry." He coughed up blood. "And Captain... no... Jack... I under... understand... now. Your power... it's... it's love... isn't it?"

I nodded. "It is."

"I thought so." Vincent muttered. "It... was the... the emotion... you carried... into battle."

Electra sobbed quietly on my shoulder.

"Electra, I... I'm sorry." Vincent said again. "Jack... take... good ca- care of her... for me."

"I will." I said. "Vincent, I know it wasn't you who did this."

"Th-thank you..." he breathed.

"You rest." I said. "I'll see you in the next life."

He nodded, and smiled a little. "I'll... be around."

Vincent closed his eyes. I could feel his presence linger for a little while after he died.

"I know you will, Vincent." I said.

The presence left.

"I know you will."

That night, I thought about Vincent.

It was just... that he was just all alone. There was never anyone to share the game. A man who lived in dreams... that's who he was.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

Two days later

Electra had come onto the ship. I didn't object, but whenever I looked at her I felt guilty. Guilty because I still hadn't been able to choose between her and Faye.

But I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. They weren't getting me anywhere, and no one had forced me into an ultimatum... yet.

Faye had come to me with a request the morning after Halloween, and we had set about fulfilling the request the rest of the day. It incorporated a side of me that I didn't use often enough.

I went up to Electra's door, and heard music on the other side. She must have been playing a recording.

I knocked twice. The music stopped.

"Come in." she said.

I opened the door, and saw Electra organizing some of her clothing. I didn't see a sound system.

"Were you singing?" I asked.

She blushed a little. "Sorry. I'll stop."

"No, no, it's fine. It was nice."

"Thanks." Electra said. "Is there something wrong?"

I sat down on her bed. It was pretty comfortable. I wanted to speak, but like a child with attention-deficit disorder, I was distracted by the view of the sunset through her window. It reminded me of the ritual Spike, Faye, and I had where we would watch the sun dip below the horizon, flasks of whiskey and cigarettes in hand. It was unhealthy, but relaxing.

"Jack?"

I shook myself out of the daydream.

"Yeah, sorry. I was wondering if you still played the piano."

"I do." Electra replied, folding a shirt and putting it away in a drawer. "Why?"

"Could you, uh, follow me?" I asked. She nodded.

I brought her into my room, where Faye was messing around with a microphone.

"You got her." Faye said.

"Got me for what?" Electra asked. "Jack?"

I pointed to a keyboard I had set up. "Alright, just set yourself up over there."

She did, but was skeptical. "Can't _you_ play the piano?"

"Yeah, but not while I'm playing the guitar." I replied, and pulled up my acoustic-electric. I grabbed a few pieces of paper, and put them down on her piano stand.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a song. Faye helped me write it." I said.

"What's it called?"

"'Gotta Knock a Little Harder'." Faye replied. "Can we start now?"

"Are you all set?" I asked, turning to Electra.

"Uh... sure." she said.

I got my left hand into position- a G major chord- and started to play. It began with an acoustic intro, so there wasn't much of a chance for me to stop and listen. But playing along with them was really nice.

I knew that at some point, I'd need to face the inherent problem and say goodbye to one of the girls. I might even _really_ screw up and lose both of them.

But at that moment, there was no need to worry. There was just music.


	13. Author's Farewell

A Farewell From the Author

Okay, so you're probably a bit ticked off that I left Jack's choice without a solution. I'm not doing it to be mean; I really don't know which woman he's going to choose. I may go totally fantasy and have him luck out and stay with both girls. But what I _do_ know is that the story will continue, so long as there's any demand for it.

The Epilogue was a tad on the unnecessary side, but it was in my plans for Electra to join the crew. And I consider skill with music a nice trait in characters. For those of you who were wondering why Faye was lead vocals, "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" has always sounded like her theme to me. What a great song.

Also, I've been considering releasing the Bebop episodes I re-did with Jack present. It changes stuff up a bit. But there aren't that many of 'em, and I'm not as proud of those tales as I am of this story. There's a pretty good chance I'll only release the remake of "The Real Folk Blues", since eventually I'm gonna want to write some stuff post-Vicious, and if Spike's alive, you're probably going to want to know how.

Send me an e-mail at Seriously, go ahead. It's fine. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like (hopefully there's more of the former). If you have any ideas for future tales, or want to use Jack for anything, let me know.

I'm presently working on "The Real Folk Blues" with Jack present- it has a happier ending- and another movie, called "Cowboy Bebop: Live and Let Die." Sorry if this comes off as threatening or anything, but I will only release the sequel if there's demand for it. If not, I'll just write the story for myself.

And hopefully, by then I'll have a decision on which girl Jack picks. Would anyone complain if I just said both? Take votes, or send me your suggestions, or something. I don't know.

Anyways, thanks for reading my story. I shall return to my plans for the sequel. Until then, farewell.


End file.
